Roughly 25 percent of US health care providers say they offer telehealth- or telemedicine solutions that are both financially attractive and improve efficiency of the healthcare provided. Though telehealth and telemedicine are used more and more among care providers, KPMG concludes that they are not yet widespread.

Over a third of all respondents (35%) say they have at least one such solution; 40 percent say they have just started offering it. Some 29 percent of all respondents say they want to implement a personal care program in order to be more attractive to patients en increase loyalty. Another 17 percent want to offer a virtual care program in order to better co-ordinate care for high risk patients.

There are many challenges when implementing telehealth- or telemedicine solutions, concludes KPMG. Almost a fifth of all respondents (19%) claim they have other technical priorities. Another 18 percent says they find it to difficult to develop a sustainable business model for virtual care solutions. Also 18 percent say their organisation just isn’t ready yet to implement these kinds of solutions.